The Extended School Year (ESY) program, held this year at Dutchess BOCES’ Resilience Academy (RA), has kept students busy by maintaining academic skills they learned last school year, while still making room for some fun.
Students engaged in a shared reading activity during which teachers read chapter or picture books in class, then parlayed it into a lesson related to the book. Listening to grade-level books allows students to access grade-level topics and reinforce reading skills.
Tracey Smith read part of an entry in the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series to her students and then made it into a lesson about bullying and transitioning to high school as the main character dealt with both. Smith chose the book for an opportune reason.
“Five of my six kids are moving to a new school in September, so these are things to expect,” Smith explained. “I enjoy reading novels with the kids. ... I want to teach the fact that if it’s a long story, the entertainment is listening to the story.”
Teachers share the books they read in class and the related lesson plans with fellow teachers to hopefully inspire them to pick up the book in the Resilience Academy computer lab and read it to their students. This activity is similar to the Salt Point Center’s Round Robin Reading Community Initiative.
“I have actually given several of them to [RA Teacher] April Hart to use,” Smith said. “We share back and forth.”
Maxwell Otieno had a blast hearing “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and the classic “Alice in Wonderland” and completing the related activities.
“The activities are very good,” Otieno said.
Preparing for the ESY Showcase
In Megan Flanagan’s classroom, students went over subtraction and multiplication problems as part of a computer program called “Caterpillar Carnage.” Students play as a worm who eats apples with numbers in order to break through number-covered blocks. The students figured out many of the problems with ease and, once completed, played a game called “Would You Rather?” where they choose which items they prefer when matched up.
Students Mustapha Camara and Alex Crespo also had a chance to dance to a medley of pop hits, which is the final project they will present for the ESY Showcase on Aug. 13. Flanagan said they like to dance to let their energy out to music they love. While the playlist is mostly pop, Flanagan will play rock and country songs upon request.
“We get our academics done first, but then we have fun,” Flanagan said.
In Trisha Paglucia Johnson’s class, students worked on collage projects centered on colorful stickers, donated by a graphic designer friend of hers. Students then cut out pictures related to the sticker they chose and pasted them on the project surrounding the sticker. Some of the projects centered on sports, shiny objects and even the color red.
“They all picked out their own center stickers and then created their theme,” Paglucia Johnson said. “They take their imagination wherever they want to take it.”
Tidjan Traore had fun working on his project which centered on food. The sticker he chose was a giant chocolate chip cookie, one of his favorite foods.
“I glued on raspberries, a store, cookies, burgers, steak and juices,” Traore said.
This year’s showcase will be done by a video shared with classes and families due to space limitations in the building.